Regulator tells industrial sectors to cut capacity

BEIJING, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- China's industrial regulator has issued an emergency decree ordering regulatory departments across the country to stop the cement and plate glass sectors from adding new capacity.

The emergency decree by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) came on Friday as a response to local governments that have indiscriminately launched new cement or plate glass projects to spur a slowing economy, ignoring the state's capacity-cutting requirements.

Industrial regulatory departments should not approve any new projects in those sectors for any reason, the MIIT said, warning that dissolving overcapacity will be a "long-term, arduous and complicated" task.

Driving economic growth through investment in large projects, particularly in the cement and plate glass sectors, is viewed by some local governments as the fastest way to buoy the economy.

Policymakers have tried repeatedly in recent years to eliminate excess capacity in the cement and plate glass sectors as part of efforts to restructure the economy and reduce pollution.

However, latest figures showed the production capacity of cement and plate glass manufacturers is still growing despite the government's actions.

In the first half of the year, China's cement output rose 3.6 percent from a year ago to 1.14 trillion tonnes, while plate glass production in the period expanded 4.7 percent to 411.18 million weight boxes, or 20.56 million tonnes, according to data from the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

Cement manufacturers still saw their profits surge 69.5 percent year on year to 26 billion yuan (4.22 billion U.S. dollars) in the January-May period. Profits of plate glass makers jumped 46.7 percent to 1.8 billion yuan in the first five months, according to NDRC data.